SANTA CLARA — Carli Lloyd knows what it takes to win the Women’s World Cup that begins in three weeks in France.

Belief.

Belief in herself in what is expected to be her fourth and final world championship tournament.

Belief in her teammates, including 11 newcomers, who face South Africa on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in the first of three friendlies before leaving for France.

“I believe in myself,” she said Saturday before a practice. “If you don’t believe in yourself, you can’t rely on others to believe in you.”

The American co-captain who has scored 107 goals in 271 appearances pointed to the way the Kevin Durant-less Warriors eliminated the Houston Rockets 118-113 in the NBA playoffs Friday night. It didn’t take a Rockets scientist to know where Lloyd was headed.

“Steph Curry is a prime example,” she said of the guard’s 33-point second half performance after being held scoreless before the intermission.

“He believed,” Lloyd added. “His teammates believed. That is ultimately all that matters. It doesn’t matter what the pundits were saying. If you believe in yourself, the sky’s the limit.”

Such resolve could be the most important factor in the top-ranked Americans’ chances of defending their World Cup title. Although the United States is favored, coach Jill Ellis’ team faces one of the most difficult tournaments in history.

The United States is the only country to have won three women’s world championships. But No. 2 Germany, third-ranked England and No. 4 France will provide formidable challenges in a tournament where as many as six teams have a chance of winning the crown.

The United States opens the World Cup on June 11 against Thailand in Group F games. It faces Chile on June 16 and Sweden on June 20.

The game Sunday is the first of three friendlies to get the team prepared for what is expected to be a dramatic month ahead. The Americans play New Zealand on Thursday in Saint Louis and Mexico on May 26 in Harrison, New Jersey.

Lloyd, 36, and teammates are looking beyond the exhibition Sunday. They have said nothing less than another title will be considered a failure. Lloyd, a two-time FIFA player of the year, demands such belief from teammates.

“If you didn’t you shouldn’t be here,” she said.U.S. women’s soccer coach Jill Ellis spoke Saturday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara ahead of the Americans’ World Cup tuneup game Sunday against South Africa. (Elliott Almond/Bay Area News Group)

Ellis has built a 23-woman roster filled with a wealth of experience. As a result, Lloyd shares the co-captaincy with fellow stars Megan Rapinoe and Cal alum Alex Morgan.

“This team believes we have the ability to do it,” Lloyd said. “But it is one thing believing and then there’s the thing of acting. So you have to perform. You have to find a way when maybe things aren’t going a certain way. There are so many things that goes into a major championship tournament like this. It doesn’t matter how you do it, it just matters about winning and that’s what we aim to do.”

Ellis said Saturday her confidence comes from having veterans such as Lloyd who already have experienced adverse situations in big games.

The first major test next month is expected to come in a potential quarterfinal showdown June 28 against host France in Paris. The United States would play in front of the most hostile crowd it has experienced in recent times.

Ellis hopes her players can withstand such situations.

“Them having experienced those moments is probably part of why they are in here,” she said of the players. “This is a filtering tank. If you don’t have that ‘it’ factor or that belief or confidence I don’t think you end up being in this environment for a long time.”

Few have it as much as Lloyd, a New Jersey woman who has won two Olympic gold medals and was the star of the 2015 team that won the last World Cup.

“People always say, ‘You have a chip on your shoulder, you’re out to prove people wrong,’” Lloyd said. “To an extent, yes. But that’s who I am, that’s how I am wired. I am competitive with every single thing I do.”

Just ask husband Brian Hollins, who helps Lloyd train at home.

“It doesn’t matter that you’re my husband,” she said. “I am going to be a train wreck and I am going to come through you.”

The one-time attacking midfielder who now is one of the team’s forwards seems more comfortable heading into her fourth World Cup. After all, she knows what to expect.

Elliott Almond is a reporter for the Bay Area News Group who has covered 11 Olympics, follows soccer and writes about social issues in sports such as concussions. Almond previously worked at the Los Angeles Times and Seattle Times as an investigative sports reporter and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize three times. An author of a book on surfing, Almond spent a good portion of his youth travelling the California and Baja California coastlines searching for the perfect wave. He now can be found among towering coast redwoods in remote NorCal forests.

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